Court no to Nikant Jain's police remand

Lucknow: A Lucknow court on Wednesday denied a request of the police seeking 40-day custody remand of Nikant Jain , accused of accepting a ₹1 crore bribe for facilitating the establishment of a solar energy parts manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh. Jain has been in judicial custody since his arrest in March this year.

Special judge, anti-corruption cases, Satyendra Singh, rejected the police's belated petition, pointing out that remand requests must be filed within 40 days of the accused's arrest, according to legal guidelines. Jain was arrested on March 20 and the court said the police application for remand came 45 days later, beyond the permissible time frame.

Jain's arrest follows the suspension of Abhishek Prakash, CEO of Invest UP and former Lucknow district magistrate, who was accused of corruption in a solar project. Jain, a middleman, allegedly demanded the bribe on behalf of a senior official in Invest UP.

During his interrogation, Jain reportedly confessed to accepting ₹1 crore from Vishwajeet Dutta, the complainant, in exchange for securing approval for the solar project. The police claimed in the court that only Jain knew the whereabouts of the bribe money and crucial evidence, including passwords for electronic gadgets and official documents and requested his remand to recover this evidence.

Jain's lawyer Nitin Mathur opposed the request, saying that the police waited too long to file for custody. The court upheld this argument, dismissing the police plea for remand.

The case will now proceed in court, with Jain remaining in judicial custody.